The Great American Read’s short summary of the evolution of YA fiction is really fascinating. As a form of art, it is a relatively new phenomenon in literature. It is only in the last fifty years that a distinction started to be made between books for adults and books for young adults. Then, the Harry…
The Learning Log
Bridge to Terabithia (A Book Review for Writers)
Here are four writing lessons I took away from the bestselling children’s novel, Bridge to Terabithia: Give your characters an immediate motivation. We know what the main character wants on page 1. This is a perfect example of Kurt Vonnegut’s advice to give characters an immediate motivation no matter how insignificant it is. Jesse wants…
Learn to Write Well by Reading A Lot
Second, you must read, and read a lot. Did I say A LOT? I read over a hundred books a year and have done so since I was fifteen years old, and every book I’ve read has taught me something. I’ve learned that some authors are incredible at building suspense (see The Firm by John Grisham), I’ve…
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Audience First Philosophy
???????? I work extremely hard but never anticipated (in my wildest dreams) I’d become the highest paid actor in Forbes’ history. I don’t have a Harvard MBA, but my business philosophy and acumen has been sharpened over time and thru failure. My goal when I was wrestling in flea markets for $40bucks per match (well…
Create a Community Around Your Content
Hal Elrod wrote an inspiring book titled The Miracle Morning Routine. More importantly, he built a community around the ideas in the book. He sent an email to his email list yesterday that I found really interesting. Here is an excerpt: I shared my two favorite approaches to meditating that have been adding a lot…
